It's clear that Isaiah Thomas, who is now with the Denver Nuggets, didn't come back the same player that finished top-3 in the league in scoring after suffering what seems like a derailing hip injury.
The 5-foot-9 dynamo was knocked out of the Eastern Conference Finals in 2017 after sustaining the injury and was consequently traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he saw a mere 14 games at the point guard position before being traded again, this time to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he was thrusted into a bench role.
Looking back to his initial return from injury (Thomas also underwent a second hip surgery at the end of the 2017-18 season), he admitted he might have cost himself millions by forcing himself to come back sooner than he should have.
“If I could do it all over again, I wish I would have sat out a little longer for sure,” Thomas said in an interview with Tiki & Tierny on CBS Sports Radio. “But we could always play the what-if game.”
Thomas is now under contract with the Denver Nuggets under a veteran's minimum deal, staying in his fourth city in the past calendar year. The shifty guard was confident the Celtics would bring a Brinks truckload of cash his way after a career-best season in which he averaged 28.9 points per game — but if his venture through injury teaches anything, is the fragile state of NBA careers and how quickly a player's stock can shift after a major injury.
Thomas has bet on himself, taking a sixth man role for the Nuggets, who promoted their previous bench spark plug Will Barton to the starting lineup. If he manages to impress, it won't take long before teams come calling for his services once again.
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